244 Sporting Sketches 



shoot ducks, I like to feel both safe and comfortable 

 so there you are ! " Monroe winked, for, like my- 

 self, he is a stanch lover of the cedar canoe, of which 

 he is undeniably a master. The trading-schooner 

 was Thompson's (not the punter's, you understand !) 

 idea of what a ducking-craft should be. Not so very 

 long and low, but of tremendous beam, it floated with 

 a raft-like steadiness. About midships was a great 

 revolving chair, in which the mighty captain was 

 wont to sit in plethoric ease and administer to the 

 ills of such fowl as evinced any need of a tonic with 

 lead in it. Meanwhile, the unfortunate punter just 

 punted for all he was worth ; and when he got back 

 with a choice lot of ducks, as he invariably did, he 

 mostly slumbered till the next starting-time. 



When the craft has been carried to the water and 

 equipped with grass and decoys, the punters de- 

 parted for their near-by but hidden village, with the 

 understanding they would return at gray dawn. As 

 the wagons started Thompson bawled after them: 

 " If you meet that frog-eating artist, tell him to 

 hustle out here ! We're not going to do our own 

 cooking ! " He explained that a young Frenchman, 

 an expert at camp cookery, would arrive sometime 

 before sundown, and that the probable reason for his 

 tardiness had been a dance somewhere the previous 

 night, an attraction which no Breed nor French 

 Canadian could resist. " He's a nice fellow, is Jean ; 

 I've had him with me many times and have yet to 

 see a better hand at a cook stove. Now, we'll get 

 plenty of ducks to-morrow in the marsh yonder; 

 suppose you and I do a trifle of skirmishing afoot. 

 There's a few miles of wet ground below there, and 



